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The Malton BIA has partnered with Malton high school teacher Janice Lowe to expand her bicycle donation program, which gives bikes to Malton students who don’t have them.

“Getting Malton moving was an easy project to get behind,” said Malton BIA Chair Sam Kohli. “Our youth need a safe way to be active now more than ever.”

The BIA has secured a space to refurbish the donated bicycles with the help of volunteers. MiWay transit has donated 45 bikes from its lost and found to expand the program. In addition, the Safety Village of Peel has donated helmet, while Oxford Properties Square One will support getting new bikes to be donated.

The project will run until the end of August, 2020.

Lowe, founder of the Grow, Lead, Excel Movement and a Malton high school teacher, told CBC News the program began after checking in with her students during the pandemic.

“I suggested to [one of my students] that he get out of his house and…just go for a bike ride to enjoy himself, and he said that he never had a bike,” Lowe told CBC News. “When I started calling my other youth, I was asking them the same question—if they had a bike.”